


Dreams

by TheMysteriousGeek2345



Category: Sagas of Sundry: Dread (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, F/M, References to Drugs, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 08:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17362589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysteriousGeek2345/pseuds/TheMysteriousGeek2345
Summary: Tanner has dreams about the future.This changes things.





	Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> That moment when you find a 75% completed Sagas fanfic that you forgot about so you decide to finish it and post it online.
> 
> So, here it is. It might be slightly awful but I kinda like the premise?

  _"Run"_

 

_Then pain._

 

_Tanner couldn't breathe. He was being crushed, the weight of the undead squeezing the air out of his body, the screams out of his mouth._

 

_He was warm. Too warm. Blood stained his body, his clothes, the ground underneath him as the tears trickled down his cheeks. His face crumpled, as he tried desperately hard to suppress the tears and the screams._

 

_He wanted the pain to stop. He wanted everything to stop. He just wanted his friends to be safe._

_He knew he was going to die._

 

Tanner's eyelids snapped open, and he quickly sat up as he struggled to realise that he was dreaming again. That he wasn't dying, that he was still in his bedroom. He'd been having these dreams frequently since the camping trip last year, when... Everything changed.

 

But this was the first one where he had died. 

 

"It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just.." Tanner muttered to himself, trying to reassure himself that everything was fine, that the nightmares were nothing more than just... Nightmares. That none of this happened, that... Kayden had drugged them.

 

He didn't know what would happen if this was all true. 

 

Tanner slowly fumbled around with his right hand, until he found his glasses. He quickly put them back on and got out of his bed, walking to the calendar that hung on his bedroom wall. It was June the 14th today. Two weeks had passed since the camping trip. 

 

On impulse, he grabbed his camera, and took several photos of the dark spaces in his bedroom. He'd develop these later, and if the goat or the illusions weren't there he was safe for another day.

 

_But how long would he be safe for?_

 

Tanner breathed in and out, trying to not think about that question, trying to think about anything else except that question. 

 

But he couldn't.

 

Tanner did not get much sleep that night. 

* * *

Tanner found comfort in the local archery range. 

 

For one, it was quiet, which allowed him to gain focus and relax. Just like when he took his photos, it required patience, it required clarity and it encouraged finding the perfect moment. 

 

"In the eye." Tanner muttered quietly, as he released another arrow from the bow, watching as it found its mark with a satisfying thud. He reached for his quiver, grabbing a second arrow, which he carefully put into his bow.

 

_But it makes you feel safe, right?_

 

_You died in your nightmares because you couldn't find your mark. You want to avoid that, don't you?_

 

Tanner gulped. 

 

"That didn't happen." Tanner mumbled quietly to himself, as he tried to focus on the target in front of him. But in a way, it was true. Learning how to shoot a bow did make him feel safe, even if his experiences were nothing more than a bad LSD trip. 

 

He released the arrow, and the arrow shot wide, missing the target by a few centimetres.

 

"Damn." Tanner said quietly, sounding annoyed that he had missed. What if this was real, and he was fighting for his life again? Being a bad shot would get him killed. 

 

_Or maybe... It would get Sat killed instead._

 

Tanner shook his head. He wasn't in the correct frame of mind to shoot any more arrows today. He quickly picked up the hire bow, and walked towards the target he had been shooting at, retrieving the fifty or so arrows that had found its mark. He then walked slowly over to the old man in charge, giving the man his bow and all the arrows that he had used. 

 

As Tanner left the archery range, he realised something.

 

Instead of providing comfort, the local archery range, just like his photography, would sometimes make him relieve the worst moments of his life, and everything that could have possibly gone wrong.

* * *

"What're you reading about?" Sat asked Tanner quietly, as she tried to peer over his shoulder at the book he was reading.

 

Unlike the Tanner in his nightmares, Tanner had made the effort to answer Sat's calls, to hang out with her when she needed a shoulder to lean on. Even though Tanner was scared at first that talking to Sat would cause him to remember every little detail of their previous camping trip, which in turn would make the nightmares he had worse, he actually found that talking to Sat made things a little easier. Tanner was still scared that everything would go wrong again, especially if Kayden was involved, but at least he wasn't facing it alone.

 

"It's a book about Post-Mortum photography." Tanner replied quietly.

 

"Post-Mortum photography? What is that?" Sat asked quickly.

 

"Well..." Tanner paused, trying to think of the best way of explaining this, "When people died, their relatives would get photographers to take photos of them. I think it helped with the grieving process in some way..."

 

Sat said something in response, but Tanner didn't catch what she had said, because three words appeared in his mind.

 

_Such lovely skin._

 

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat what you said?" Tanner asked, looking into Sat's eyes. He still loved her, even though she was growing closer to Kayden, even though he could potentially lose her. 

 

"Why're you reading about this stuff?" Sat asked, "Like, is this for your photography course or something?" 

 

"I'm not sure exactly." Tanner lied, "I must have heard someone mention it, and I just felt like it was interesting. Not only that, but I felt that it might be useful in helping me develop my photography skills." 

 

Tanner perfectly well knew why he was interested. In his nightmares, he had seen dozens of photos of dead children. He couldn't tell Sat that though, in case she thought he was going _slightly_ crazy.

 

"Ok....?" Sat replied, sounding concerned, "As long as you're enjoying it, then I won't complain?" 

 

Tanner nodded.

* * *

Tanner woke up in a cold sweat.

 

Sat had OD-ed, and had nearly died as a result of it. He was so scared, and so, so angry. He was scared because he didn't want to lose her. He was scared that she was hurting from the experience, and hadn't fully told him why. He was scared because he might never get to see her again.

 

He was angry because Kayden was the one who introduced her to drugs in the first place. 

 

Tanner slowly grabbed his glasses, and quickly tiptoed his way downstairs, to where the phone was. He then tapped in Sat's phone number instinctively, hoping that she was awake.

 

Hoping that she was still alive. 

 

Eventually, he got a reply.

 

"Hello, who is this?" Tanner could hear the angry voice of Sat's mother on the other end of the phone. To be fair, he had woken her up. 

 

"Hello, Mrs Jones, it's Tanner. Tanner Sills." Tanner replied quietly, but politely, "Is Sat there?"

He could hear the sound of footsteps on the other end of the phone, and a few moments later he could her Sat's mother quietly saying her daughter's name. Then he heard Sat.

 

"Hey Tanner." Sat said, just as quietly, "Are you ok? Are you having another nightmare?" 

 

"Yeah." Tanner nodded, "I had one where you... I just wanted to check if you were alright. Yeah, it might have been silly, but..."

 

"It's ok." Sat said, sounding sad, "I can't sleep much either since the camping trip. Every time I close my eyes, I can just see the... Things that tried to haunt us. But I can't talk to people about it because most people think I'm crazy if I mention it. And you're the only one I can talk to about it... Darby's practically worships the Goatman, Raina is living the dream at art college and Kayden has fucked off somewhere. You're... You're the only person I have left to rely on." 

 

"In all honesty, I've been relying on you as much as you've been relying on me." Tanner said, trying to comfort Sat, "I'd have probably bottled it all in and pretended it wasn't real if I hadn't been able to talk to you."

"So, you're no longer accusing Kayden of drugging us with LSD?" Sat asked quietly, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. Kayden was... Too easy a scapegoat to blame." Tanner mumbled, "I've never taken LSD, but... It seemed too real for it to be a drug trip." 

 

"Thank you." Sat said quietly, sounding like a weight has been taken off her shoulders.

 

The two of them talked for another half an hour, about everything from their friends and what they were doing to Tanner's research on Post-Mortem photography and his new found love of archery.

 

As the sun began to rise, Sat made mention that she was planning on trying to get to sleep soon. Tanner nodded, and was about to say something along the same lines, when he suddenly remembered one of his nightmares.

 

_You never got to tell her how much she meant to you. You waited until you were dying to tell her. Why don't you tell her now?_

 

"Tanner, are you ok?" Sat said quietly, interrupting Tanner's thoughts. Tanner gulped quickly. He was going to tell her.

 

"Um... Yeah." Tanner replied, slightly blushing, "There's one more thing I'd like to say. I know you've asked me before why I care so much about you. The reason is that I... I well... I love you. Ummm... I didn't tell you sooner because you were close with Kayden and didn't err.... Do you want to go out on a date sometime?" 

 

"Erm... Sure?" Sat replied a few seconds later, sounding slightly surprised, "Can we talk about this in the morning? I'd rather have this conversation when I'm more awake than I'm currently am."

 

"That's ok." Tanner replied, "Thank you." 

 

And with that, Sat and Tanner said their goodbyes, and headed off to their respective beds. And both of them got to talk about their feelings (and how they perfectly aligned) the next morning.

* * *

_Pick it up, Put it down._

 

Originally, Tanner thought that Darby was crazy. She seemed like she'd been... Possessed by what they had encountered last year. He had heard about her streaking across campus, about... Her breakdowns.

 

There was no way that she was able to talk to the Goatman. And, even if she had found a way of talking to him, then... Why would she even want to talk to him? He did try to kill them after all...

 

And the roof falling down as a result of her ritual? Just coincidence. It had to be.  

 

_You don't think that, do you?_

 

_That this was coincidence, that none of it was real?_

 

_If it wasn't a drug trip caused by Kayden, than what was it?_

 

_If this is real... Then isn't it better to go looking for answers than stumbling around blindly?_

 

Now... Tanner wasn't so sure. 

 

In a way he understood why Darby had done her research. If it was real, if spirits like that did exist, then he should learn about it, just in case...

 

_Pick it up, Put it down._

 

When Tanner first approached Darby about her research, Darby was sceptical that Tanner would believe her. After all, she had to deal with people telling her that she had gone mad, that all of this goat stuff was make believe. And Tanner after all seemed so logical, so practical. There was no way he'd...

 

"So, you do believe me?" Darby said, as she took a sip from her cup of coffee (no milk, one sugar). The two of them had arranged to meet up at a local diner whilst Sat was out for the day with her family.  

 

"I'm keeping an open mind." Tanner said carefully, "I can't rule out that what we experienced that day wasn't real. As a result, I felt like I should do some reading on this, just in case your goat spirit is real."

 

Darby looked like she was about to cry. 

 

"So, you understand why I'm doing what I'm doing?" Darby said, a small smile appearing on her face, "You don't think I'm crazy?"

 

"You might be crazy." Tanner admitted, "But that doesn't mean that you're wrong. Now..."

 

Tanner didn't get a chance to finish his next sentence before Darby embraced him in a huge hug.

 

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou." Darby muttered, as Tanner felt tears slowly drip onto his shoulder. A few seconds later, Darby released him from the hug, and muttered, "It's just that... Raina doesn't approve of what I'm doing, as she thinks that none of what happened six months ago was real. The last time I contacted Sat, she told me that I was crazy. And well... I can't find Kayden." 

 

"This doesn't mean that I believe in the Goatman." Tanner clarified, "I'm just open to the possibility that he exists, and would like to do more research in order to see if it is possible or not. Now, are there any books you'd recommend?" 

 

An hour later, Tanner left the diner, his journal full of resources recommended by Darby. Well, Tanner thought, as he looked through the list again, where should he start?

 

_Pick it up, Put it down._

 

At college, Tanner often found himself in the library.

 

When Sat was in classes, or in one of her extracurricular activities, Tanner would come here on his own, with nothing more than a notebook and pen, and he would start researching.

 

On this particular day, Tanner was reading about Native American spirit animals, just because he wanted to find out the meaning of the Goat. Flicking through one of the books Darby had recommended, he eventually found what he was looking for.

 

_The Goat: Surefootedness, stubbornness, independence, diligence, in the moment, aloofness, virility, sturdiness._

 

In a way, Tanner thought, the goat did represent Darby's personality well. She had always been stubborn in her beliefs, she always worked hard and she seemed to be more independent than the others. No wonder she had been drawn to the existence of the Goatman the most. 

Tanner looked quickly up at the clock. He had another 20 minutes until his next photography class. He should probably go and get ready...

 

_The turtle in the box._

 

_The turtles by the corpses._

 

Instead Tanner found himself flicking through another several pages, being drawn to looking up the Turtle as if by impulse. Tanner couldn't explain why he was looking this up, but he knew that he had to.

 

_The Turtle: Nurturer, shy, protecting, patience, strength, innocence, endurance, longevity._

 

The Goat was protecting Darby, than was the Turtle protecting him? 

 

He would have to ask Darby later. 

 

_Pick it up, Put it down._

 

Tanner couldn't believe that he was doing this. 

 

Again, Sat was busy that evening, so Darby had dragged him to a local tattoo parlour, saying that the two of them should ink their spirit animals onto their bodies in order to protect them in case...

 

Well, Tanner didn't want to think about what bad things could happen.

 

Darby had gone in first, having firmly decided on both the design (a small goats head sitting on top of an open book) and the location (roughly where her heart is). 

 

Tanner, however, wasn't so sure. He knew that he wanted a turtle, the number 540 (Tanner didn't know why he wanted the number. It just felt... Safe?) and the location (somewhere on his lower back) but the design itself eluded him. He just wanted something small.

 

Eventually, Darby came out of the inking room, her new tattoo hidden under her white shirt. She smiled at Tanner, as she sat down next to him. A moment later, the thin, lanky tattoo artist approached him and beckoned him into the room.

 

Several hours later, Tanner emerged, his back still raw from the tattooing procedure. Darby smiled at him, and mouthed "How did it go?"

 

Tanner mouthed back, "Alright, but my back hurts. Shall we go now?"

 

Darby nodded.

 

_Pick it up, Put it down._

 

"Hey, Tanner." Tanner looked up to see his girlfriend Sat looking over his shoulder, "What're you reading?"

 

"Err...." Tanner paused, "I'm reading one of the books Darby recommended?"

 

"Wait." Sat said, sounding shocked, "You believe in Darby's mumbo-jumbo?! I thought you were..."

 

"It's not that." Tanner interrupted.

 

"Than what is it then?!" Sat said, sounding slightly annoyed, "And why didn't you tell me?"

 

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, might be the truth." Tanner muttered quietly, quoting the works of Conan Doyle, "Both of us agree that it wasn't a drug trip, that it was real. Therefore, I was doing some of my own research into whatever Darby has been doing over the past year, in order to see if it was possible that she might be right. After all, if Darby's right, at least we know what is going on. As for why I didn't mention it... Well, that should be obvious." 

 

"Because I label Darby as crazy, is that it?" Sat replied, still sounding slightly annoyed. After a few seconds, she said quietly, "But that does make sense. I wish you had told me though..." 

 

"I apologise for that." Tanner said quietly, "I promise that I won't do it again."

 

"It's okay." Sat said, giving Tanner a gentle kiss on the neck, "So, what have you found out?"

 

_Pick it up, Put it down._

* * *

One of the things Sat and Tanner had both agreed on was that they needed answers, a way of explaining what had happened to them on the camping trip last year.

 

Which is why Tanner found himself on the phone to both Raina and Darby.

 

Darby had agreed to go almost immediately. After all, she had found purpose in the Goatman, and by going back, she could find a way of communicating with him. Tanner still wasn't sure that this was a good idea, but he wasn't going to deny Darby a chance of finding her own answers.

 

Raina though, wasn't so sure...

 

"Why would we want to back to a place where we almost died?" Raina asked over the phone. To be honest, Tanner understood why she asked him this. The idea of going back to investigate... What the heck happened last year seemed almost suicidal. 

 

_What if you die because you went back?_

 

"Yes, it seems dangerous to go back." Tanner admitted, "But it's for our own peace of mind, to make us feel safe if we go back and nothing happens. Plus I haven't seen you in a while. It'll be good to catch up."

 

It took a while, but eventually Tanner was able to persuade Raina to go with them on the camping trip. After that, the date was set, along with the location where they would be meeting up.

 

Eventually, on the 13th of June, the five of them met up in the parking lot opposite the town library. They would be driving in Kayden's van to the camp site, and from there they would be reliving everything that they experienced that night. 

 

"So... How are you Kayden?" Tanner asked, breaking the awkward silence that had filled the van.

 

"Eh." Kayden replied with a shrug, "I guess I'm okay." 

 

"What did you get up to last year? Sat, Darby and I had problems trying to contact you and..." Tanner asked, again trying to make small talk.

 

"Not much." Kayden said quietly, "Well, nothing interesting anyways."

 

After that Tanner fell silent, looking at the rest of his friends as Kayden drove the van towards the camp site where everything had changed last year (and he was definitely driving over the speed limit. There was no way Kayden would be allowed to drive that quickly). The atmosphere in the van was one of dread. Tanner could tell that everyone, including him were nervous about going back, in case it wasn't a one off, or a mass hallucination, or even a drug trip fuelled by Kayden's malevolent pranks. 

 

And, in what felt like no time at all, they had arrived.

* * *

It all started with the Turtle totem in the box. 

 

"Tanner..." Darby muttered, sounding amazed, "I found a turtle."

 

Tanner started at her in shock, as he gently tapped his lower back, where his turtle tattoo was. He was scared. How did he know about the turtles? They weren't there when they were there last year.

 

But he'd dreamed of them, dreamed of them on the side of the road and beside those corpses. 

 

_Beside the corpses that would later claim him as one of their own._

 

"You should take it." Darby muttered, placing the turtle on the palm of his hand, "It's your protector, right? It should..."

 

"Thank... Thank you..." Tanner said, rubbing his lower back where the tattoo was. For a brief moment, the thought that he had seen the future had crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. That wasn't possible.

 

It couldn't be.

 

Right?

 

A while later, things got even stranger.

 

The group had found a note tucked away under the doormat of a secluded shack. Tanner decided that he would be the one who read the note out. Eventually though, he faltered a little.

 

_The Devil is in 540._

 

"What....?" Tanner muttered to himself, double checking the letter, convinced that he had misread it. And then he checked it again, as he slowly started thinking about the tattoo on his lower back.

 

And the number 540 featured on it.

 

Kayden snatched the letter out of his hand, "Here, let me read it. The Devil is in 540? What does that mean?"

 

Sat and Darby just _looked_  at Tanner, confusion and fear evident on their faces. Eventually, Darby just muttered, "That's the number tattooed on your back. What the hell...?"

 

"Wait, Tanner boy got a tattoo?"  Kayden said in shock, "Damn..."

 

"Yeah..." Tanner interrupted, the pieces slowly clicking into place. It sounded impossible, but there was no other way of explaining how he knew about the Turtles and the number 540. He sighed, "You may not believe me when I say this...."

 

Sat interrupted, "You ok, Tanner?" Tanner gulped, looking at everyone's confused, intrigued and amused (the latter in Kayden's case).

 

"I guess..." Tanner said, sounding surprised, "Some of the nightmares I've had over the last year were for this camping trip." 

 

The group fell silent for what felt like forever. Tanner could see that all of them were just as stunned as he felt.

 

"You mean that you've been seeing the future?" Sat asked quietly, "Sweetheart... Why didn't you...?"

 

"I didn't know." Tanner replied, "I thought it was nightmares about things that could have gone wrong last year... Not things that will go wrong tonight."

 

"What do you remember?" Raina asked, "Maybe we could avoid some of the bad things happening if..."

 

"I died." Tanner said quietly, the words hanging heavy in the air. Tanner could see Sat's face crumple, tears slowly beginning to form in her eyes.

 

"Well, isn't that just fucking grand?" Kayden said, earning himself a slap from Sat. 

 

"How... How did you die?" Raina asked, sounding shaken. 

 

"I was a bad shot." Tanner replied, "We ended up in a cave where there was a horde of undead. As we were escaping, I found a bow and a set of arrows..."

 

"That's why you took up archery!" Sat exclaimed, earning several confused looks from the others, "Tanner didn't mention it? He's been learning how to shoot a bow for the past year..."

 

"That's correct, yes." Tanner said quietly, "Anyways, I took the bow and arrows and I died making sure that you all survived." 

 

Silence.

 

"Is there anything else that you remember?" Darby asked a few moments later.

 

"Just fragments really." Tanner admitted, "The turtles, obviously, and the number 540. Apart from that... The photos. The smell of formaldehyde. The children's toys. Carving symbols into our skin with a knife." 

 

Everyone looked at each other nervously, not sure what to say. Eventually, the question was raised on what should they do next. Raina argued that they should just leave, and pretend that this never happened. Tanner, on the other hand, argued that they should continue to explore the area in order to find answers for everything.

 

Which is why they found themselves walking into the house.

 

And yes, everything Tanner dreamt about actually appeared at some point. The rest of the group (even Kayden, surprisingly) decided that Tanner should be in charge of leading the group through the house. Tanner walked through the strange but familiar building, pointing out everything that he encountered in his dreams.

 

He panicked for a second when he saw the words _such lovely skin_ written on the back of one of the seconds, remembering those three words being repeated in his dreams over and over and over again. The group, recognizing this, gave him a few comforting words before they continued exploring the house. 

 

The only thing that surprised him was the sound of the man of the house screaming "MOOOOOOM!" He hadn't had dreams about  _that_ after all.

 

"Wait, you dreamt about the fucking photos, and yet the dude screaming Mom somehow managed to escape your attention?" Kayden asked incredulously, as the five of them tried to find a way out of the house.

 

"Now... Is not the time." Tanner replied, the pitch of his voice rising in slight panic, "We need to get out of here!"

 

Eventually though, they found the way out, and the five of them ran and ran through stone tunnels under the house, none of them looking back. They couldn't afford to be delayed by their fears of Simon following them down the corridors and killing them. They needed to make as much distance as per possible. 

 

And finally, Tanner found himself back in the cave where he had died in his nightmares. 

 

However, unlike those nightmares, everyone was more on edge, more paranoid about what could potentially happen if they weren't careful. They carved the symbols into their skin, just in case the shapeshifter returned. They searched the corpses and found the turtles, as well as the bow and arrows just outside the cavern. They took an arrow each to use as a dagger, and then they just ran to the place where Tanner said the exit would be.

 

Just in time for the undead to reawaken. 

 

Just like his nightmares. 

 

However, unlike his nightmares, Tanner wasn't swarmed by the undead. This time, he was able to hold them back long enough for the exit to be opened, and as he ran towards the light, there was only one thing he could say:

 

_"Run."_

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I did write most of this back in 2017 so yeah my writing is definitely a little ehhh.
> 
> As for the ending... Did the group survive or did they die? _shrug_ I dunno. I'd like to imagine the former but well Tanner wasn't around to have dreams of what came after this moment so....


End file.
